The Last Days of Monroe

-Donald H. Wolfe

“Who killed ?—that’s a question…that was a tragedy.” Was said by Sean O’Casey on August 6, 1962, two days after the death of Marilyn Monroe. Most people believe that Marilyn died do to a drug overdose or suicide or maybe even both, but no one knows the possible truth that really happened the day she died.

Norma Jeane was born on June 1, 1926. Norma Jeane was a small child, she had pretty brown hair, and her eyes were like a blue stars sparkling in the night sky. She was very shy as a child and didn’t talk much. For being little however she picked up on things faster than others and was brilliant for her age. She lived with the Bolengers as a child, because her mother (Gradys) couldn’t care for her. Gladys didn’t want to give up on her child and would pick Norma Jeane up from the house and take her to the beach or back to the apartment for a sleep over. However Norma never knew that lady as her mother until about the age of six and by then her mother was in a mental hospital. The same mental hospital that her grandma died in after trying to smother young Norma Jeane.

Norma Jeane was placed in an orphanage after Grace (family friend) could no long care for her. Grace was a big part of Norma’s life, always telling her “You’re going to be a star on day, you’ll be in all the big movies.” Not only was she telling Norma Jeane this, but she was telling her that she would come back for her when she could afford to care for Norma. For Seven years Norma went from home to home, but that wasn’t the worst part for her. It was going to school being known for the orphan girl who wore the same outfit every day; she only had the clothes given to her by the orphanage which was the same outfit. When she was finally thirteen Grace was married and talked her husband in to taking Norma in. It lasted for three years until Grace had to move with her husband and leave Norma Jeane back in the orphanage for another two years.

However that isn’t want happened. When Norma Jeane moved in with Grace, Next door lived a twenty one year old Jim Dougherty. They sparked a romance right away and when Norma was 16 and Jim was 24 when they got married on June 19, 1942. They lived together for a year and then Jim joined in to help fight the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. Once again Norma Jeane felt abandoned. Norma Jeane decided to work in a factory while Jim was at war. While a photographer was walking through taking pictures for a book for The Bombing of Pearl Harbor, his eye got attached to the young 22 year old Norma Jeane. That was the day she started modeling. Jim wasn’t happy with her modeling and took another year in the army. However Norma’s career was just starting. She modeled for a couple years, people would see her picture and fall in love with her, and she had an essence of her that people fell for. However her brown hair wasn’t what people wanted. They tried several times to get her to die her hair but none the less she refused. It finally came down to not getting the chance to pose because she didn’t have the look. She caved in and decided to go . After she died her hair she became more popular for people and ended up on the front of magazines and that is where she was noticed by the head director of FOX Studios.

She went to FOX Studios after getting a phone call. When she arrived she met with Ainsworth where he told her she is perfect and needs to take a screen shot in front of Mr. Zanuck. She did one screen shot and was loved Mr. Zanuck. Zanuck hired her with a seven year contract. Stoked she ran home excited. She started talking to Grace of her new name; Norma Jeane yelled with excitement “The man at the studio mentioned ‘Marilyn’”. Her and Grace were so excited they decided to take Gradys Maiden name Monroe. Norma Jeane is no longer known as Norma but as Marilyn Monroe always and forever.

Signed to FOX Studio she never stared as the star in movies, just small parts. She was known more as an extra if anything. During her stay at the studio she was told she needs to divorce Jim because they don’t want her to become pregnant while being contracted with them. So she divorced Jim Dougherty right away without thinking too much of it.

Her marriage ended, she went through years at FOX without starring in a movie besides of being an extra. Her contract ended and she disappeared for seven months. No one knows where she went, When she came back she was sad, still no one new why. She came out with the truth that she had a kid in the seven months she disappeared. She came out later saying the father didn’t matter. Later years came and went and documents came out showing that the father was John F. Kennedy.

She went a couple years broke with no money, then she got resigned to FOX Studios, but this time she was the star in the movies and everyone loved the movies. She played a dumb blond in the all movies and she didn’t appreciate it at all. Angry she refused to do movies where she played dumb. Her friend Milton helped her open her own production known as Marilyn Monroe Productions.

She became very famous and Joe DiMaggio recognized. They soon started a relationship. While with him she was seeing another man that she married for two days and divorced. Joe was very jealous of her not because of her fame but she when she talked to other guys. They often argued about it. They ended up getting married and it lasted for nine months. In the nine months they were arguing she often got hit and she couldn’t take it any longer. While their divorce she met . He had a wife at the time and they had an affair behind her back. He was arguing with his wife and they were not happy. He then wrote the play The Crucible. While writing it he made the character John Proctor after himself and the young Abigail was based on Marilyn Monroe. He divorced his wife and ended up Marrying Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn and Arthur wanted children and tried, when she got pregnant it lasted two months and then she had a miscarriage two months later, after the first one she became depressed and sad and tried to take her life for the second time. A year later she was then pregnant and the same thing happened again. Depressed that she couldn’t have a child she left Arthur out of her life, and opened back to John F. Kennedy. This wasn’t the first time she was having an affair with John F. Kennedy. John told her that he loved her but couldn’t leave his wife because he needed her to win the presidential election.

By know Marilyn has attempted suicide twice, has gone through four husbands, and has had a secret baby with John F. Kennedy. Everyone assumes her death has been suicide because of her past. However this book has opened my eyes up showing that her death could have been homicide and not suicide. Evidence has disappeared over weeks after she died, reports have gone from 178 pages down to 52 pages, and the autopsy has been altered. No one can answer what happened that day because everyone just seemed to die. Rumor is that Robert Kennedy did it because he was angry with her for sleeping around with other men and one of the being his brother John F. Kennedy. When the detective was called to the crime scene he saw everything and when he came back with more cops the crime scene was changed, but no one believed him because he was the first cop there. Dr. Greenson (Marilyn’s Psychologist) and Murray (house keeper) both had the same story on what happened but then changed the story years later. The autopsy shows that there was no pills in her stomach and intestines, if that’s the case how did she die?

This book makes you think, is her death suicide or homicide? I really enjoyed reading this book and to me it seems as if it’s a . The truth should come out, but it cant because there is no more people alive from that night. Her death will always be a mystery.